RWC: Australia v Fiji - 23 September 16:45, Millenium Stadium(24 September 1:45 AEST)

[Hawko]

I haven't seen the Fiji-England game but based on the commentary from that one Fiji appeared to significantly improve tonight. I thought they were excellent in defence, particularly in midfield. We did not get the usual value from Kuridrani when he had the ball. While there were fixable issues across the park for us I was impressed with Fiji; I think tonight they would have beaten a lot of teams and I think they can do Wales when they play because Wales will be somewhat one-dimensional. I thought our scrum was solid but we were trying to win penalties, not win the ball. Moore should have struck and trusted his props to support him rather than try to walk over the ball.

AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) had a cracker, he doesn't often have a bad one. I hope though that we were holding a lot of moves in reserve, we certainly did not make too many clean breaks. Beale to me had one of those stints where the ball did not come near him - I doubt he got more than a couple of touches in his time on the park.

Looking forward to Smith starting against Uruguay; a week off will help Slipper's head and its early days in the tournament. Not getting a bonus point was bad for us but overall I thought our defence was great all night. Some of those Fijians will be very sore tomorrow morning.

 

[Joe Blow]

Have to win both now.

Have to win all. Wasn't that always the plan?

 

[Inside Shoulder]

AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) had a cracker, he doesn't often have a bad one. I hope though that we were holding a lot of moves in reserve, we certainly did not make too many clean breaks. Beale to me had one of those stints where the ball did not come near him - I doubt he got more than a couple of touches in his time on the park.

How can a bloke who has spent his whole adult life as a pro footballer not have a left kick that he can go to at will?
Infuriating.
Un-professional.


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[KOB1987]

Well done your blokes - one under the belt. Fiji are hard.

yep, McKee has transformed them and with the amount of professional players they have they aren't a bunch of 7s players like they used to be.

Everything went pear after 50 minutes for us, but we were always going to be a tad rusty as most of the team hadn't played together since Eden Park. The bench had zero impact which is unusual. The momentum stopped for us after the Volavola try which was from an illegal play.

Anyway, the bonus point would have been nice but it's academic if we win all our games, that's the primary objective.

 

[gel]

Deciding to kick a lot of possession away (to a team that love to run with the ball no less) throughout the second half had the biggest impact on the wallaby performance and ultimate result.

Genia should never box kick - they just never end up being strongly contested kicks and rarely result in significant territory gain.

Glen Jackson matches are an eyesore at the breakdown. Doesn't matter which teams play under his control, the breakdown just becomes a scrambling mess with a multitude of possible infringements from both sides.

Well played Fiji on sticking it to the wallabies. Well played wallabies on winning a tough one.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

How does it go ok for 50 mins and then fall apart because of rust?
That game was a 40 point game for us at oranges. Trouble is we assumed that and Fiji played like it was nil all.


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[AnthemX1]

Foley doesn't like to tackle. When the big teams start running at him an over him Australia will be in trouble.

 

[Pfitzy]

Foley doesn't like to tackle. When the big teams start running at him an over him Australia will be in trouble.

Yeah besides sitting Nadolo on his arse and a couple of others.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

there was a shocking read by the aussies when Foley was marking nedolo on the short side from a scrum - luckily foley went in to take the 9 and gitts picked up nedolo.
its bullshit analysis to just place foley on the blind side like that.

 

[Benaud]

I slept through the alarm and missed it.

Reports seem to say we were OK for a half and a bit, then terrible. Pocock the stand out as usual this year, forwards solid, lineout great until Simmons left then diabolical, and no cohesion in the backs at any stage.

Is that about it?

 

[Inside Shoulder]

I slept through the alarm and missed it.

Reports seem to say we were OK for a half and a bit, then terrible. Pocock the stand out as usual this year, forwards solid, lineout great until Simmons left then diabolical, and no cohesion in the backs at any stage.

Is that about it?

spot on

 

[Tex]

Foley doesn't like to tackle. When the big teams start running at him an over him Australia will be in trouble.

That's rubbish. He stuck some quality hits

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[Rugbynutter39]

I watched Fiji - England game and fiji played much better and like the quality side they are...I think fiji are the side who have drawn worse short straw....as if in other pools would be quarter final contenders

I think those who were questioning foley's game in defence must not have been watching the game closely - he pulled off some very good tackles on some big fijian players....

Simmons had strong game....as obviously did pocock. I thought all in all an ok first up game for the wallabies.....as fiji are a strong side who played well tonight. Pity they did not play like this against England as reckon would have been a chance to beat them on way they played last night.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

Two shit throws and a drop isn't a worry. The fact that they happened consecutively is.

I think bit of over reaction that sky is falling down type view here - they would have in training been focussed on first combinations of douglas / simmons in lineout for this game so mumm coming on and stuffing up a few lineouts (and moore contributing with shit throws) is not the end of the world. As mumm previously had done ok in lineout - urugray will give him chance to fine tune...

Hardly see this as reason to be so alarming about our lineout - particularly given Simmons / Douglas performed so strongly....

 

[Red-L]

Did the back line create a line break? I remember one off izzy alone.... Foley isn't creative enough.

 

[Joe Blow]

I think bit of over reaction that sky is falling down type view here - they would have in training been focussed on first combinations of douglas / simmons in lineout for this game so mumm coming on and stuffing up a few lineouts (and moore contributing with shit throws) is not the end of the world. As mumm previously had done ok in lineout - urugray will give him chance to fine tune.

Hardly see this as reason to be so alarming about our lineout - particularly given Simmons / Douglas performed so strongly..

I would be concerned since they have basically been in camp for a few weeks and there should not have been the confusion.
In two of those lineups no-one jumped. The other was bad luck as Mumm had the ball dislodged after he caught it and he was moving forward.
Easy to fix one would think.
The first half was a solid conservative display that was strangling the much improved Fijians. We didn't give much away but pretty much dominated every aspect. Wish we had of continued in that vein in the second.

Cheika will be mostly pleased with that.

 

[Tex]

I switched on from about the 30th minute and thought our patterns and organisation with ball in hand was excellent. Crisp service, decoy runners and people knowing their role. Importantly Foley/Giteau were playing closer to the gain line, probably helped by the go-forward we were getting from the pigs.

It seemed to fall apart from the 50th minute, and while the result was never in doubt, we allowed our structures to become disorganised and the backs, when they got the ball, played significantly further behind the gain line.

A win's a win and while a bonus point would have been nice, I suspect it's not going to be the decider in the pool. Wales' team sheet is looking like a battalion report after the first battle of the Somme - ie. slightly depleted. Dispatch them, flip a coin in a dogfight against the dodgers at Twickenham and then we can count our cards.

 

[Shiggins]

Meh

 

[Braveheart81]

I would be concerned since they have basically been in camp for a few weeks and there should not have been the confusion.
In two of those lineups no-one jumped. The other was bad luck as Mumm had the ball dislodged after he caught it and he was moving forward.
Easy to fix one would think.

The first of the three losses was a short throw. Fardy was lifted towards the back of the lineout but the ball didn't go close to making it there.

The other throw where no one jumped clearly had issues with the call and Moore then muffed a wonky throw that could have been caught at the front of the lineout by a player still on the ground.

I definitely think that had a big contribution to the decision to kick for goal a few minutes later.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Seems very strange that Fardy and Moore can't sort out a line out between them given they do it for most of the year